Celebrating 2024!

One of our 10 Green Team Tips is to Celebrate! The Joy and acknowledgment of our successes are what help build momentum at Houses of Worship and communities. We asked each person from our Outreach Team to name a celebration for our region. We hope you enjoy all of the wins below as we continue to work for equitable and just communities.

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St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Champaign, IL | Indiana 2024 Renewable Energy Day | Celebrating Faith in Place Retreats of 2024! | Building Momentum in Southern Illinois | Planting Seeds of Hope, Love, and Action | Awarding the First Three Veronica Kyle Scholarships | Celebrating the Joy Being in our Community | Creating Visibility for Solar in our Communities | Partnership with Sol Systems in Morgan County, IL | Expanding Access to Environmental Initiatives for all Hoosiers

St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Champaign, IL

St. Peter's UCC hosted a big community party to mark the completion of a Geo-Thermal and Solar project funded by generous donors through the Green Energy Assistance Fund. They invited all the other area Green Teams. By the end of the year, three of the four teams that visited the party, initiated, funded, and completed Solar or Geothermal projects at their Houses of Worship! It strengthens us to continue to build more just and more beautiful communities.

Indiana 2024 Renewable Energy Day

On Feb. 13th Faith in Place helped host well over 200 faithful citizens made their way to Indianapolis. For me, a highlight was to see Faith in Place’s first high school Green Team there. Ten eager and informed young people, along with their teacher, marched up marble stairs to their Representative's office. They formed a circle around her and, one by one, presented reasons why clean energy is vital to their future, and to the future of the state they call home. Health, economy, community resilience, slowing global warming. I celebrate each person and group that participated Renewable Energy Day, but I especially celebrate those youthful leaders. They were well prepared. They were hopeful. They will be back.

Celebrating Faith in Place Retreats of 2024!

I am celebrating the FiP Retreats of 2024!

This year, we held a three-day retreat for the Outreach Team across all three states, to equip us to intentionally form and support Green Teams in environmental justice communities. A month earlier, in October, we held a 3-day retreat for 5 new congregations in EJ communities, to introduce them to Faith in Place and to help them start Green Teams! So in parallel fashion, we’re adding GTs in EJ communities, and equipping our staff to serve them and engage in the important work of addressing environmental injustices across all 3 states! It’s an exciting time at Faith in Place, to do the great work of Environmental Justice!

Building Momentum in Southern Illinois

Momentum has been building in Southern Illinois. People are coming together to plan and dream as communities have begun to benefit from the large utility scale and community solar projects that are being built and coming online. Community solar customers are seeing smaller utility bills. Southern Illinois is growing clean energy leaders. This is an area that has historically - and even recently - been ignored and left behind by economic trends. Faith in Place Green Teams are helping communities begin to have hope for their future and dream about becoming healthy and vital communities where their neighbors and children can thrive.

Planting Seeds of Hope, Love, and Action

I’m celebrating new trees and the people who are planting them in Waukegan and Northern Illinois. Partnering with the Morton Arboretum, Faith in Place has sunk roots deep into our communities and neighborhoods.  Each sapling is a prayer for the future of our communities – for healthier air, less stress and depression, and enhanced neighborly interaction. During our staff retreat in October, the pastor of Elevate Church blessed our staff team and an elderberry bush for a long life and fruitfulness. May it be so! This work is about more than trees—it’s about people and possibility. Let’s keep planting seeds of hope, love, and action to grow a healthier, more connected future. May it be so!

Awarding the First Three Veronica Kyle Scholarships

This year, with the help of generous donors like yourselves, we awarded the first three Veronica Kyle Scholarships. The Scholarship Fund, named after Eco-Ambassador Founder and Faith in Place’s Modern Elder Veronica Kyle, provides scholarship opportunities and a platform for Eco-Ambassador alumni entering their junior or senior year of college with a declared major/minor or concentration in environmental studies. Congratulations to our 2024 recipients: Tiara Bullock, studying media studies at Wright State University; Meaghan Dutton, studying Geology at St. Norbert College; and Elijah Pierre-Toussaint, studying Civil Engineering at Bradley University.

Celebrating the Joy of Being in our Community

We have been part of so many celebrations this past year – from a movie screening with Interfaith Alliance to Milwaukee Riverkeeper Cruise. And the biggest gathering by far was Juneteenth. We braved the hot summer sun together and it was a joy. This year was special because I experienced it at the Faith in Place table, passing out information and swag, answering questions about our programs, and hearing folks like Vernetta J, who said Faith in Place is doing good things to make our community healthier. Juneteenth was also an opportunity to come together and spend time with our Green Team at Solomon UMC. The day reminded me that when we unite our diversity, culture, love, and admiration, we can move forward together.

Creating Visibility for Solar in Our Communities

In the North and West Chicago Suburbs, momentum grew this year for Solar, thanks in part to Faith in Place making our people aware of funding opportunities through the Federal Inflation Reduction Act. One new Green Team member told me he loved the project because "people who drive by our building can look up and see that people here care about our neighbors. We are doing something to try to make the world a better place. Maybe they get to know us better. Maybe they think about what they can do! Together, we make a difference!"

Partnership with Sol Systems in Morgan County, IL

I’m celebrating a partnership with Sol Systems, a developer of a utility-scale solar farm in Morgan County. Their community engagement team invited Faith in Place to to provide free energy audits and seed money for upgrades to houses of worship in the county. Morgan County is new territory for Faith in Place, and it’ll be cool to see how Faith in Place can partner with these new communities of faith to advance our mission and benefit new communities. Check out this video about the new Solar Farm.

Expanding Access to Environmental Initiatives for all Hoosiers

Faith in Place in Indiana is dedicated to expanding access to environmental initiatives for all Hoosiers. As the Indiana Outreach Director, I’m based in Evansville, in southern Indiana. I’m excited to collaborate with Grace, who works with Green Teams across Central Indiana from her home in Indianapolis. With Jalisa in Northern Indiana, Policy Director Christine in Bloomington, and Eric in Columbus, our team is committed to partnering with people of all faiths to advance clean energy, sustainable food systems, and environmental justice advocacy.  (Grace). In working with Green Teams over the past few months, I have been amazed by the networks of support they have built to grow our movement for environmental justice throughout the state. We can't wait to see where we go next, but today, we are honored to celebrate everything our Green Teams have achieved in 2024.

Thank you for all of your work in 2024! We look forward to continue growing and building resilient communities throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin!